Means for stopping trains.



. B. MGDONALD.

MEANS FOR STOPPING TRAINS. APPLIGATION FILED AUG.19, 19,12.

COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON. D. C.

narran sra'rns i rarn'nr oneven.

WILLIAM 'I'. B. MCDONALD, or errtnlvnf;A QU-BEC,- GANADA, AssIGNoR 'roMACDONALD Y GAR BUFFER LIMITED, or MONTREAL, 'oA-NADA, A CORPORATION.

MEANS non: s'IorPINce TnArNs.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 1, 1913.'

Appncannviea August 19, 191e. serial No. 715,894.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, W'ILLIAM T. B. Mo- DoNALo, of Granby, in theProvince of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Means for Stopping Trains; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear', and exact description ofthe Same.

ly invention relates particiilarly to the buffers or bumping postscommonly used at railway terminals for preventing runaway trains ortrains the speed of which is not checked in time owing to the lack ofjudgment, or for other reasons, from being wrecked or wrecking thestation or doing ot-her damage beyond the established end of theline.

The object of the invention is to provideV a buffer which will absorbthe inertia of the moving train by converting the weight of the forwardpart of the train into frictional resistance and supplementing thefrictional resistance by a resistance increasing progressively until arigid stop is presented.

The invention may be saidbriey to consist of a bntfer mounted slidablyonthe rails at a terminal and comprising in combination with a rigidlysecured terminall stop, a pair of elongated friction members bearingslidably on the rails andvadapted to have the forward end of a movingtrain run thereon, such buffer being adapted to offer aresistanceincreasing proportionately tothe dis-V placement of the buffer; and theinvention further consists of the combinations, particular arrangementand specnic' construction of parts hereinafter described, and pointedout in the claims.

Forfull comprehension, however, ofmy invention reference mnst'be had tovthe yac-` companying` drawings forming a part of this specification inwhich similar reference characters indica-te the same parts, andwherein:

Figure l is a side elevation of meansv for irons g with treads in t-heform of straps 71;

rigidly `secured on Vtop of the channel irons. These shoes arepreferably about sixty feet in lenoth and Vfit the rail heads with asnug sliding lit. AA pair of heavy castwebs 7c are secured rigidly tothe shoes, preferably by bolts m, and the ends ofthe tread-straps h arebent over the ends of the webs vand secured thereto as at 0, such webshaving fiat ytops 79 upon which flanges 1" extending laterally from theopposite sides of a cylinder are bolted. This cylinder is hermeticallysealed and contains a` piston tand the opposite ends thereof areprovided with vacuum and compression safety valves 2 and 3, re-vspectively. A plunger .bar l projects from the frontof the pistonthrough a stuffing boX 5 in the front cylinder-head and has a bufferhead G formed orv secured rigidly thereon.- In `order to yieldinglyretain the piston, and with it the buffer normally in its extremeforward position a bar 7 is secured rigidly to the rear'side of thepiston and projects throngh a stuffing boX 8 in the rear cylinder head,the. rear end thereof having a vertically disposed cross-arm l10connected at its opposite ends by a pair of helical springs 12 to apairof bosses 14 and 15, respectively, formed upon` brackets' 16V clamped tothe flanges 17 and 18 presented by thev cylinder: endv andcylinder-head. This sliding buffer, constituted by the' shoes, webs,cylinder and the parts contained within and carried by the cylinder, andbuffer head, 1s preferably located about forty feet from the rigid stopsd, Vand the appliance is heldv semi-rigidly in that position byv apairzof blocks 20 clamped tothe rails, whilea platformv 25 extends over'the stops l and the space between them and the blocks 2o.

ylhe hcrmetically sealed cylinder is for the purpose of insuring` aproper confinement of the air under compression as well as but quiteindependently of the prevention of leakage of the atmosph-ere into thevacuum end of the cylinder, while the piston being of course effectivelypacked as usual maintains this hermetical sealing of the ends of thecylinder relatively to each other what.- ever its position may be.

Operation: Under normal conditions the appliance rests in contact withthe blocks 20 which are, as above stated, about forty feet from therigid stops, and at the outer edge of the platform. l/Vhen a train eX-ceeds the point at which it should stop it will run onto the shoes andif its excessive travel is sufficient but the inertia comparatively lowthe train may be stopped by the resistance offered by the air compressedin the forward end of the cylinder augmented by the vacuum created inthe rear end of the cylinder. 1f, however, the train runs at acomparatively high speed over the predetermined point at which it shouldstop, it will run onto the shoes and into contact with the buffer headand drive the piston to the forward end of the cylinder, and,continuing, the inertia will carry the entire appliance and the blocks2O with it until the friction of the shoes sliding upon the rails whilesustaining the locomotive and whatever portion of the train runs uponthe shoes, stops the train, the platform giving away. The trains ofapproximately five hundred to-ns and crossing the terminal at a speedof, say, thirty miles an hour will be stopped well `within the fortyfeet allowed, but heavier trains or trains crossing the terminal at ahigher speed may possess sufficient inertia to reach the rigid stops clbefore being arrested. The fact that the terminal ends of the rails andthe vertical rails Z are embedded in a solid foundation of concrete orcement supplements the resistance of the air compressed and vacuumcreated in the bufiing cylinder and the friction of the shoes on therails sufficiently to absorb the inertia of and bring to a stoppractically the heaviest train running over the terminal at maximumspeed.

What 1 claim is as follows:-

l. In a railway train stopping appliance, the combination of a pair ofrails, a buffer mounted slidably upon the rails, and a pair of blocksclamped to and under certain conditions slidable along the railscontiguous to the buffer.

Q. A railway train stopping appliance comprising a pair of shoessupported slidably upon the rails at a railroad terminal,

y and a buffer mounted yieldingly upon the shoes in position to receivethe impact of a train running upon t-he shoes, such buffer comprising apair of webs mounted rigidly upon the shoes, a hermetically sealedcylinder rigidly secured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder, a barsecured to the piston and projecting through one of the cylinder headsand having a buiiing head at its outer end; and pressure and vacuumsafety valves located at the opposite ends of the cylinder.

3. A railway train stopping appliance comprising a pair of shoessupported slidably upon the rails at a railroad terminal, and a buffermounted yieldingly upon the shoes in position to receive the impact of atrain ruiming upon the shoes, such buffer comprising a pair of websmounted rigidly upon the shoes, a hermetically sealed cylinder rigidlysecured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder, a bar secured to thepiston and projecting through one of the cylinder heads and having abuffing head at its outer end; pressure and vacuum safety valves locatedat the opposite ends of the cylinder, and means returning the said lastmentioned means to normal position.

4. A railway train stopping appliance comprising a pair of shoessupported slidably upon the rails at a railroad terminal, and a buffermounted yieldingly upon the shoes in position to receive the impact of atrain running upon the shoes, such buffer comprising a pair of Websmounted rigidly upon the shoes, a hermetically sealed cylinder rigidlysecured upon the webs, a piston in the cylinder, a bar secured to thepiston and projecting through one of the cylinder heads and having abuliing head at its outer end; a bar secured to the opposite side of thepiston and projecting through the cylinder head at that side and havinga cross-arm at its outer end, a pair of lateral bosses upon thecylinder, and helical spring connected between the ends of the cross-armand the bosses.

5. 1n a railway train stopping appliance, the combination o-f a pair ofrigid stops at a railroad terminal, a pair of rails abutting the stops,a buffer mounted slidably upon the rails and spaced from the stops.

6. 1n a railway train stopping appliance, the combination of a pair ofrigid stops at a railroad terminal, a pair of rails abutting the stops,a buffer mounted slidably upon the rails and spaced from the stops; apair of blocks clamped to the rails contiguous to the buder.

7 In a railway train stopping appliance, the combination of a pair ofrigid stops at a railroad terminal, a pair of rails abutting the stops,a buffer mounted slidably upon the rails and spaced from the stops, anda platform covering the space between the rigid stops and the slidablebuffer.

8. In a railway train stopping appliance, the combination of a pair ofrigid stops at WILLIAM T. B. MCDONALD. Witnesses:

LILLIAN HAWKES, ALEXINA JoNCAs.

a railroad terminal, a pair of rails abutting the stops, a buffermounted slidably upon the rails and spaced from the stops; a pair oi'blocks clamped to the rails between the rigid stops and buffer andvcontiguous to the buffer; and a plat-form covering the space betweenthe rigid stops and the slidable buffer.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patentsl Washington, D. C.

